Global chipmaking equipment sales fell in Q2

LONDON – Worldwide semiconductor manufacturing equipment billings in the second quarter were down sequentially and annually, according to industry association SEMI. However while the global picture was one of decline in Taiwan billings were up 83 percent sequentially and 18 percent annually.

The global sales billings in 2Q12 were $10.34 billion, 4 percent lower than the first quarter of 2012 and 13 percent lower than the same quarter a year ago, according to data gathered jointly by SEMI and the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ).

Worldwide semiconductor equipment bookings were $9.70 billion in the second quarter of 2012. The figure is 10 percent lower than the same quarter a year ago and 4 percent lower than the bookings figure for the first quarter of 2012.

That puts the book to bill ratio for 2Q12 of 0.94.

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Quarterly billings data by region in billions of U.S. dollars. Source: SEMI/SEAJ. Note * North American figure was revised.